The Blondie and the 'It'
by MentalKase
Summary: Challenge to myself: Write CubitxZeroZeroxCubit story, and finish it. AU! ... I guess. So, what if things went different during their fight? Rating for safety.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Rockman is owned by Capcom:D

So, here's another one of those fanfictions that I probably won't update in a million years! Yay! This isn't going to be following the story-line, as I'm going to try writing a ZeroxCubit, CubitxZero thing for the helluvit. If it's already been done - sorry! Oh well! Haha! In the future, I'm planning on doing many CubitxRandomPerson fic's... If I get my lazy arse into gear... Ahaha...

Now onto the story.

* * *

"What's this?" Zero questioned, glancing around the room curiously, aware of anything that may come after him... He had bad luck with these end rooms. He always found someone waiting for him. Or, someone always teleported in seconds after he arrived.

The blonde reploid waited, waited, then waited some more until he was confident no one was going to show. He went to talk over to something of interest, until he heard the tell-tale sign of teleportation. He turned his head warily to see the bright light enter the room and take the form of the next of Weil's Numbers that he was probably going to have to battle and defeat...

"Teeheehee," came the girlish laughter as the form materialized. Tall, feminine, and back-on - Zero could have sworn it was female. Even this ones voice lead him to beleive so... Until it turned around.

"Hey!" No breasts. The feminine guy pouted and crossed his arms across his chest, glaring at Zero. "You weren't supposed to see this place." His hands moved down to rest on his hips as he leaned forward, scrutinizing Zero from but a few feet away. The intruder looked battle-wary... But his hair was nice. Cubit smiled slyly, a plan already forming in his head.

He couldn't let this one leave. And anyway, this one appeared to be that rebel guy he was supposed to be cautious of! He'd already gotten rid of a few of his brothers, after all.

Poor Inarabitta. Poor Fliz... Though he couldn't say he particularly missed Hellbat much. Mantisk was someone he could live without, too.

He was brought out of his reverie when he noticed a bright light heading his way. Sabre! Cubit jumped back before darting to one side, keeping his eyes on where he had been. The ground now bore burn marks - if he hadn't moved, he would have been sliced down the middle!

Zero growled, blue eyes flashing. So much for this being over with quickly. The blonde rebel brought the sabre back up and got ready to charge at the enemy reploid again, mind never straying from his task.

Unlike Cubit's.

Such fire this 'Zero' displayed! Such fierceness! He obviously wanted to get rid of him fast and easy. But that was surely not going to be how it would go! He was not going to fall like his brother's before him did. He would avenge them, instead!

The girly reploid held his hands up in a peaceful fashion, much to Zero's confusion. Cubit grinned, then gestured to their surroundings before he spoke. "This is a Dark Elf copy factory. We've got copies of the Dark Elf sleeping here. In other words, Baby Elves. We have the facotry sealed off so nobody'd get suspicious..." His grin turned malicious and he lowered both his hands to his side before flinging one to the left, taking on a more sinister posture. "Now you've done it! I'll have to ensure you remain silent about this... For-e-ver!"

A light enveloped Cubit Foxtar's body as he changed into his battle form. To Zero, Cubit looked even more girly than he had moments before... The blonde couldn't help but roll his eyes.

Cubit continued with his little speech after the transformation was complete. "I am Cubit Foxar, member of Weil's Numbers!" As if that hadn't been obvious. "I'll make sure you never talk again!"

Cubit hovered for a moment before having to dodge to the side as Zero came at him again. The girly reploid dashed forward before turning, so that he could see the blonde, who was in the process of turning to face him as well.

Before the rebel reploid was ready to attack again, Cubit took to the air, causing the blonde to pause for a moment to rethink his attack plan. Foxtar chuckled, waiting, plan in mind...

Zero dashed then jumped up, sabre ready, eyes confident that he would hit his target...

Though, he didn't. His target, instead, had a different idea in mind. Flames were immediately sent Zero's way as the enemy moved back, out of his reach. He had no choice but to be burnt; he couldn't have changed his course, as he was already airbourne and hadn't the capabilities.

The blonde rebel landed heavily on the ground, on his feet. All right, but burnt. His armour was charred by the flames and his synthetic skin was most likely melted in places... And he swore he could smell singed hair.

Cubit landed on the ground as well, albeit much softer than Zero had done so. He watched and waited for the rebel's next move, one hand on his hip. He was impatient, to say the least. The blonde seemed to be thinking about something - or waiting for him to do something?

"Hel-lo, anybody home in there?" Cubit inquired, daring to take a step towards Zero. No answer, but... Was Zero shaking?

Was he... Scared?

Alas, no! Quite the opposite.

"You..." Zero sent a glare at Cubit that froze the girly reploid in his tracks. "You damaged..." Zero's grip tightened around his sabre as he straightened, still glaring at Cubit with enough intensity that if looks could kill, Cubit would be disintegrated. "My HAIR!" With a mighty, almost mournful battle-cry, the blonde dashed at Cubit, his speed enhanced by his overwhelming rage towards the guy.

"Eeep!" Cubit yelped, jumping back before turning tail and fleeing from the rebel's rampage. Scary! Most horrifying! Worse than Weil when the ole grump rolled out of bed - literally!

It took only seconds for Cubit to notice running was no good. The rebel reploid was faster than he... Then again... Could he fly?

The girly reploid took to the air. Zero growled, murderous blue eyes following his enemy. There was just no way in hell he was letting this guy escape! He damaged his HAIR, of all things! He had to die! DIE!

Cubit made his second mistake - other than doing damage to Zero's hair. He stopped and turned, figuring he was safe in the air, and got ready to taunt his persuer. No dice.

Zero took advantage of Cubit's stop and turnabout. He jumped into the air, grabbing hold of the girly reploid and effectively tackling him out of the air and onto the ground. The surprised Cubit stared up, wide-eyed at the blonde - who was effectively straddling his waist and pinning both his arms above his head - before he found a sabre being held right between his eyes.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't..."

Cubit took that moment to transform back into his more human-like appearance, grinning nervously up at the rebel of whom was glaring murderously at him. Hopefully he saw the re-transformation as a sign of peace... Though Cubit doubted he was able to see much at all, aside from pure rage. "If you don't kill me, I'll help you! And... If you kill me... There will be no proof for anything going on here! The copies will all die... The... The room will cease functioning!" It was the truth, at least. The watched the blonde hopefully, his pink eyes watching the murderous blue ones.

Reluctantly, after what seemed like years, Zero moved his sabre away from Cubit's face. Though he didn't let the girly reploid get up, nor did he let go of his hands. "You had better be telling the truth," he snarled, before he paused and wondered just how this was going to work...

He didn't want to test Cubit's words. If what he had said was, indeed, the truth, killing him would make this mission pointless. However, if he was just lying to save his skin and to get Zero to let him go... What was to stop him from attacking the first chance he got?

Zero sighed in irritation, placing his now deactivated sabre down on the ground next to him before opening his comlink. "Ciel."

The girl's voice immediately answered him, sounding concerned. "Zero?! Are you all right?"

"Yes." He spared a glance down at a releived-looking Cubit before continuing. "I've run into a problem. Can you teleport us back to base?"

"Us?" Ciel was curious. Genuinely curious. "Who is with you?"

"Cubit Foxtar," the blonde replied, saying the name as if it left a disgusting taste in his mouth. "He has said that if I kill him, all the proof here goes along with him. I don't want to take that chance."

The human girl on the other end of the comlink was silent for a moment, before she said something to one of the people in the room she was in. Her voice came back over the comlink, loud and clear, moments later. "All right... Hold on."

Not a minute later, both Weil's fiery girly-bot and the rebel's hot-headed hero were in the teleport room of the rebel's HQ. Ciel peered at the two curiously, cautiously, consideringly as she rested her chin in one of her hands, and her elbow in the free one.

It wasn't every day Zero brought home one of the enemies under what she assumed were somewhat peaceful terms.

And their positions were amusing.


	2. Failed InterrogationsNegotiations 1

Well... I had to update SOMETHING eventually. Sorry, this chapter SUCKS Not much going on or anything... Can't... THINK.

Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING.

And I apologize in advance for extreme OOCness.

* * *

It was a day about Cubit's surrender-slash-capture.

The mentioned girly-bot was sitting boredly in one of the bunkrooms, which had been quickly turned into a sort of prison. It was locked, and only able to be opened from the outside... Though, he mused, if he _really_ wanted to, he could probably have burnt a hole in the wall and fled...

Though Weil would probably want to give him a verbal beat-down if he made it to Neo Arcadia in one peice. If. Zero would probably be hot on his trail as soon as he got out of the building... And returning to his previous post was out of the question. The factory was probably crawling with rebellious little mavericks as they collected whatever evidence they were after.

So... It was probably in his best interests to stay right where he was. Cubit chuckled to himself - the rebels were even too cheap to get proper bindings. They _had_ said this one guy was busy working on better ones, but before then...

They had just used normal rope. Which Cubit broke out of as soon as they left. Pfft... Rope wouldn't hold anything but the weakest of reploids!

And now, Cubit was sitting on the top bunk of the beds that were in the room, swinging his legs back and forth boredly. They could have at least left him something to occupy his time with. Who knew how long they'd---

Shhffft. The soft noise of the door opening broke Cubit out of his little mental chat with himself. The girly-reploid looked over at the entrance, brows raised curiously.

It was Zero - and Ciel, thankfully, since without her, Zero would probably end up biting his head off. Hm. Seemed they fixed Zero up real well, as he showed no signs of having been burnt from their previous little scuffle.

The blonde rebel stalked over to the bunk beds, crossed his arms, then glared up at Cubit. "Get. Down. Here."

Ciel, however, just stood near the doorway, the same curiosity playing on her face as before. Before, when they showed up in that oh-so amusing position on the teleportation pad.

The girly-bot's pink eyes watched the blonde for a moment. Cubit frowned, as if considering whether or not he should get down off his new favourite perch. He stopped swinging his legs, then pushed off from the bed with all the strength he could, landing gracefully behind Zero.

And then he headed towards a now alert-looking, slightly tense Ciel.

Zero growled, grabbing his saber and activating it, ready to run at the damnable---

"You're looking lovely today, Miss Ciel!" Cubit had stopped about a foot away from the human girl, hands clasped behind his back.

Ciel blinked slowly, relaxing again. "Uhm... Thank-you..." Well, this was a first. Enemy reploid saying she looked... Lovely... Okay. Perhaps he wasn't too bad. For a Weil-bot. The girl grinned pleasantly.

Which made Zero twitch. He had been watching the whole little exchange, of course. And he wouldn't admit it, but he had... Feelings... For the human girl. Seeing her being complimented by an /enemy/ reploid was one thing... Seeing her GRIN about it like she was was ANOTHER thing.

Jealous, much? Heck yes.

An angry Zero continued twitching irritably as the girly-bot started a conversation about the weather with a slightly puzzled, although pleased looking Ciel.

He didn't quite know what made him do so, but...

Zero deactivated his saber, slammed it back to it's usual place at his hip, stalked forward, grabbed Cubit and pushed him back into the room, then similarly grabbed Ciel and marched her away from the room. After closing and locking the door, of course.

Cubit snickered as he heard the girl protesting on the other side of the door. Mental note number one: Zero got pissy when someone flirted with that chicky.

He listened as the racket got further and further until he couldn't pick it up anymore before moving back to the bed, leaping back up to his earlier perch on the top bunk.

Interrogation-slash-negotiations attempt number one... Failed.

Out in the hallways of the rebel HQ, still being carted off and hell - _scolded_, for whatever reason - by Zero, Ciel sighed. Hopefully the next attempt would work out better.


	3. Late Night Chat

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Duh 

-

Night time.

Zero was asleep in his room. Ciel... Wasn't.

Ciel was being a naughty little girl, indeed. Since interrogations didn't go too well when she was with Zero... She was going to go interrogate that Cubit fellow on her own. Of course, she wasn't totally stupid; she was bringing a gun along with her, in a holster strapped around her hip.

The only reason she was confident in going alone was because Cubit didn't seem too bad or hostile at all. Infact, he had complimented her last time. Zero never complimented her at all - and HE was on their side!

Then again, it all could've been some sort of trick, but... Why else was she bringing a gun along, hmm?

The girl stopped at the door, swiftly tapping in the code to unlock it. The door slid open, allowing her entrance. And she entered, closing the door as soon as she did before turning back around.

Cubit Foxtar was still sitting up on the top bunk, swinging his legs back and forth in a bored manner - though he perked up considerably when he saw Ciel enter. YAY! Someone to chat with! But... It was rather late, wasn't it? "Hello again, lady Ciel! Aren't you supposed to be asleep? And where's your little body-guard boy? It's not wise for little human girls to visit an enemy's room late at night without some form of protection."

Ciel's brows rose as she listened to the Weil Bot's little speech. She coughed, albeit fakely, hand going for the gun in the holster around her waist. She held it up for the pink-eyed reploid to see, sort of as a warning. "Yes, I should be sleeping now. But I decided to try this without Zero being here. He doesn't seem to like you, and he interferred with our attempt at interrogating you last time, so..." The petite girl shrugged her shoulders, lowering the hand holding the gun. "And you don't seem bad enough for me to be too worried," she pointed out.

And in reply, the girly reploid momentarily disappeared, dispersing into several little balls of flame, each making their own way to the stunned girl before reforming behind her as Cubit. Before Ciel could turn, the Weil Bot had grabbed the hand holding the gun and wrapped his other arm around her tightly, pulling the rather stunned human against him. "Don't forget that I am still loyal to Lord Weil, girly." Before the girl could stutter out a proper reply, he had let go, pushing her forward gently before he stepped around her in order to make his way back to his perch.

The human girl quickly regained her composure when he had let go of her, watching the Weil Bot with wide blue eyes. Mm... Perhaps making a try at interrogating him alone wasn't such a wise idea? Then again, he had just seconds ago had her in a vulnerable position. If he had wanted to hurt her, he could have done so then. "Then why did you... You know, surrender? We now have the proof that we need... Zero said during your fight that you said you'd help us... If you were truly loyal to Weil, you wouldn't have said that."

"Smart girl," Cubit muttered, leaping back up onto the top bunk and sitting down, once more going back to swinging his legs back-and-forth. "It was a moment of cowardice, that's all!" He grinned, tilting his head to one side, eyes never leaving the human girl. "If I could rewind time, I wouldn't have said a thing!"

Ciel frowned. Did that mean Cubit wasn't going to help them...? Even if he had already done so, albeit unintentionally?

The girl frowned. Okay, she was sleepy. Aside from that little adrenaline rush caused by the Weil Bot getting so damn close, she was TIRED. And her mind was bogged down with sleep.

She yawned, putting her gun back into the holster. "I'm too tired to argue." Ciel turned back to the door, ready to leave, before casting a glance over her shoulder at the reploid watching her from the bunk bed. "Please consider helping us, anyway. Weil is a bad man who only seeks for personal gain, not to improve humanity." With that, she left the room, locking the door once more before she left.

Cubit closed his eyes once she was gone, leaning back and folding his hands behind his head. Hmph. Even if he did join this little band of rebels, Zero would probably wind up killing him, anyway.

Soon enough, the Weil Bot's systems slowed in the mock-sleep of any reploid. Baah, he'd think about that stuff in the morning...


	4. Reawakening

Disclaimer: It's painfully obvious. Sorry if I make Weil and co. really fecking OOC.

-

Where the bloody hell was Cubit?!

Why in the world was the factory still running?!

WHY was it infested with Maverick SCUM?!

Weil slammed his hands down on the console he was using to view some dreadful information. The rebels were having a field day collecting evidence of his evil-doings at the factory. The factory that should have SHUT DOWN if Cubit was defeated - which means the girly-bot was either captured, or he had surrendered...

The human-head-in-a-jar of a reploid-human thing whirled around, taking his leave of the stupid console in order to get to his laboratory. He arrived moments later, as it wasn't that far away, approaching a few tables.

Each table held a body, and there were four tables in all. They just needed to be re-activated... Weil grinned an evil, cunning grin as he made his way over to the first table. On it lay a short, slightly feminine-looking male reploid; Chilldre Inarabbita. The evil mastermind knew very well that Cubit liked this kid the most. It had been painfully obvious upon their conversion to the good-posing dark side.

The first thing Cubit had done was run up to Inarabbita and 'glomp' him. It wound up with both of them on the floor, a pile of undiscernable limbs, flailing and... Well... Cubit was laughing. Inarabbita had been screaming and threatening and so on in order to get him off. It had been a slightly amusing moment.

But, anyway, back to the present.

Weil flipped a switch on the side of the table, the wires leading to several places along little Inarabbita's body glowing faintly with electricity and information. Wires of which lead directly into several places in the reploid boy's body, feeding him this electricity and information. It only took about a minute before his eyes snapped open. He simply layed there while Weil turned the stream off, moving around the table and disconnecting the wires from Inarabbita.

Once he was free of the bothersome things, Chilldre sat up, squinting as it felt like his head was being split into two. Eugh... Information overload. Last he remembered, he'd been fighting Zero when he'd made a wrong move, and...

He shuddered, looking questioningly over at Weil, who seemed to catch the unspoken inquiry.

"You were destroyed, Chilldre Inarabbita. I have rebuilt you and reactivated you. I need you to do something for me, now." He glared back over at that stupid console. "Your brother, Cubit Foxtar, has - I assume - defected. I need you to retrieve him."

The boy reploid made an annoyed noise. Defected? Cubit? ... Actually, it didn't surprise him, much. "Where is he?"

"He's most likely with the Mavericks," Weil muttered, returning his gaze to Chilldre. "You'll need a disguise. Fefnir will help you with that." As if on cue, the general appeared in the doorway of the laboratory.

"C'mon, kid," the fiery reploid urged, arms crossed, tapping his foot impatiently.

Without a word, Inarabbita hopped down from the table and followed Fefnir out of the laboratory, down the hall, and into a different room. The general disappeared into a little closet, leaving the boy reploid curious as to what he was going to retreive...

He watched as Fefnir returned, stopping directly infront of him and smirking suspiciously. Hmm. The taller reploid held out a pale-blue chip, of which Inarabbita took hesitantly.

"Download that." The general place one hand on his hip, waiting. "It's your disguise."

With a quiet little 'hmph', Inarabbita did just that, slotting the chip into a little place on his left forearm made for such a thing, eyes closed as he absorbed and then activated the program.

... His eyes nearly popped out when he re-opened them, coming face-to-face with a mirror the fiery reploid held up for him so he could view his diguise.

He had ice-blue hair tied back in a pony tail, ice-blue eyes, an a friggin' DRESS, of all things. A matching blue colour, too. It went down mid-thigh, where a pair of black shorts continue to the knee; sleeveless, a black undershirt continuing down to his elbows. Boots - with HEELS - reached up to his knees, and a pair of white, fingerless gloves were on his hands.

All right. Weil had some really screwy humour. "What the hell is this?!"

Fefnir could barely contain his laughter. Actually, he didn't even try. He was nearly rolling around on the floor. "Your disguise - I said that before you downloaded it," he managed to cease laughing long enough to say.

Inarabbita gave him the most dirtiest, evil, 'I'm going to eat your firstborn'-esque glare he could manage. "It's not funny! I-am-NOT-a-GIRL!" He stomped his foot down twice, frustrated beyond belief. WHY did people always do this to him? They either mistook him for a little girl, or gave him some stupid disguise or--- or something!

"Could'a fooled me," Fefnir muttered, snickering while he tried to stop laughing. "But anyway, your name for this mission will be 'Ina'."

Great, that was the name Cubit tended to use. Inarabbita frowned sulkily, crossing his arms and slouching. This... Was surely going to suck. "When do I go?"

Fefnir shrugged, turning and heading out of the room. "Now, I guess. C'mon."

-

BAAH, short! Then again, aren't they all... Anyway. I more than likely butchered Weil, Fef' and Ina's personalities... But whatever! 


	5. Phase I

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. And I am not to be blamed for any nightmares brought about with a theme of weird little girly-boy kid reploids in dresses.

I'm sure if Ina' was real I'd be dead by now. nn

Anyway. Sorry for the huuuuuge nonupdating... Span... Of time... Thing. oo' I've had time to work on this but as with most/all of my other fics, I'm friggin' lazy. Eheh.

I wonder if this will actually end up ZeroxKyuu, though. It's beginning to be more, like... Everyone-likes-Ciel. D; That's what I get for letting it go it's own way, I guess...

--

"So... You're saying I'm going to have to be teleported to there," Inarabbita jabbed a finger at one point on the map, "And then run from there, all the way to the Maverick Rebel's HQ in HEELS with those guys chasing after me." He shot a few of the pantheons a look from over his shoulder. Yeah, so far this plan sounded really, really crappy to him.

Though his summary of the plan earned him a round of clapping from Fefnir. "Yeah, that's about it, kid. So, if you'll all step onto the teleporter, we can get Ina's humiliation started!" 'Course, the pantheon 'ploids obeyed the command, stepping onto the teleporter. Though Ina' didn't.

"What the hell do you mean, we can get MY humiliation started?!"

"Shut up, kid."

"HEY!"

-- to put it simply, Fefnir grabbed Inarabbita around the waist and threw him onto the teleporter. Sure, it was playing dirty, but he got them all out of there and to where they were supposed to be more quickly than they would have if he had stayed to argue.

--

Ina' grumbled distemperedly, standing up and rubbing his abused arse. What, the teleporter's floor was HARD and it HURT... Anyway, he sighed grumpily, back turned to the zombie-esque 'ploids as he brushed himself off and re-adjusted his dress... Eugh. Wait. He blinked slowly as he heard the sounds of guns being charged before turning around--

-- to come face-to-face with the little army of pantheons pointing their guns at him. Oh. Joy. Looked like they were getting right down to business, neh? And it looked like they were taking this seriously and if he didn't run he'd be... Plasma-shot fodder. Um. Most unpleasant.

... Letting out a sleu of words from most colourful language, the poor girly-kid whirled around and started running just before the place he had been standing in was shot at. Damn Fefnir! Damn Weil! Damn Cubit! They could all rot or blow up or be dumped into a pit of acid or something!

Thankfully the Rebel HQ wasn't that far off! Infact, he could see it quite clearly already. And apparently they could see him, as he could see some movement there. Ah... Now, he guessed, would be a good time for panicked, girly shouts. Oh, he was going to kill Fefnir AND Weil when he got back... "SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME! I'M BEING-- GAAMMPH!" Cue: heel cracking off. Inarabbita, most embarassingly, immediately lost his balance and fell, more-or-less, right onto his face, causing the persuing 'bots to trip over him and...

It was a friggin' doggy pile, really...

And given the 'bots that had been assigned to this plan to chase him were pretty much weak as hell and rather cheaply made just for the mission, they 'died' once they'd landed. Which pretty much meant Inarabbita was now buried under a pile of broken reploids and they were really, really damn heavy, too. "NEVERMIND! WILL SOMEONE PLEASE GET ME OUT FROM UNDER THESE... THINGS?!"

Mind, the reploids that had been getting ready to fire at the on coming Weil 'bots took a short moment to stare. Well, you certainly didn't see that everyday. Only then did a few of them quickly make their way over to poor Ina' and start to dig him out of there.

--

"So... You were just out for a walk and the pantheons started to chase you?" Ciel watched the 'girl' standing across from her curiously. Currently she, Inarabbitta - or 'Ina', which raised a few brows... Or Zero's, anyway -, the mentioned blond hero, and the two teleport control reploids were standing in the command room. The nice reploids that had helped Ina had gone back to their posts after escorting 'her' in.

Ina nodded. What? He couldn't think of any better excuses, damnit-- he twitched, looking over at Zero, who had been eyeing him suspiciously the entire time. "Will you stop staring at me, you blockhead!?" Oops.

The 'blockhead's eyes narrowed. He'd been called that before by a certain little reploid that was about the same side and build as this 'girl'... Not only that, but... "So, tell us. Why were you out for a 'walk' in the middle of nowhere?" To say Zero was skeptical would be an understatement. A very big understatement.

The disguised Weil-bot made a surprised noise, clearly not having been anticipating that sort of question. Which of course meant, he didn't have an answer for it. Ah, nut bunnies. "I... Er... Well...!"

Ciel frowned--as did Zero, but he did so in a more unfriendly way--before sighing. "Zero has a point... It's a simple question. Why were you out here?"

Looking from the blond human to the blond reploid several times, Ina's brain worked quickly to come up with an answer that he didn't seem stupid, himself. So far, it was failing. But it would be more suspicious to stay quiet... If he wasn't already suspicious enough as it was. "Uh, well--I got dumped out here! By... My... Dimwitted parents! Yeah. They always said they wanted a boy--" he inwardly winced at his own words. "--And they said they were sick of me so, they, well... Yeah!" He threw his hands up, before sniffling and ever-so suddenly turning on the 'water works'.

It was also a convenient ploy to be able to cling to Ciel. But that's not the point.

The little reploid sobbed and wailed rather convincingly into the human's chest, of all things. Ciel was startled at first, though she quickly moved to pat the 'younger girl's' back, cooing reassurances to the poor 'girl'. Oh, if only she knew... If only she knew...

Same could be said for Zero. He looked a little uncomfortable, averting his irritated gaze. If only he knew that was really a boy reploid, Inarabitta no less, who was sobbing into Ciel's bosom.

There really would be hell to pay.

"There, there," Ciel murmured, a hug following the patting and cooing and the like. "Do you know why those Pantheons were chasing you?"

Of course, having not thought of an excuse for that before, either, Ina shook his head in an attempt of having to. At least for that moment--no doubt it was bound to come up again... "Nn... No...," he so sobbingly mummbled. By Weil's left pinky, he should win a Grammy for his acting skills.

The human scientist glanced up to her blond reploid companion, who was still averting his gaze, a small, concerned frown on her face. Seeing he wasn't going to be looking over at them any time soon, she sighed. "You can stay with us... Ina, was it?" The 'girl' nodded, finally looking up and meeting Ciel's eyes. She was smiling instead of frowning by then, reaching up to ruffle the 'girl's' hair a little. "We just need to find you a place to sleep."

Ina smiled brokenly, sniffling expertly. "Thank-you!"

Phase one, complete.


End file.
